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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Theoderic, post: 8207030, member: 110471&quot;]I just received my copies of the latest Kuenker auction catalogs for their upcoming sales in early April and included with them was a special publication entitled &quot;Origins of the German Coin Trade: The Hamburger and Schlessinger Families - A German-Jewish story of the fortunate rise and tragic end of the most important coin trading dynasty before the Second World War.&quot;&nbsp; I was aware of the Hamburger name as they were active for many years and often listed in early 20th century provenances, but I knew little of their story and even less of the related &quot;spin-off&quot; firm of Schlessinger.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>In brief, after WWI Leo Hamburger brought in his nephew Felix Schlessinger as partner and potential successor to their well-established coin business in Frankfurt, which unfortunately suffered and declined during the terrible inflation of the 1920s.&nbsp; Felix therefore set out to Berlin in 1928 to establish his own successful firm until 1936 when, with the rise of National Socialism, his family emigrated to the Netherlands.&nbsp; However, with the German occupation of the Netherlands in 1940 their reprieve was short-lived, and both Felix and his wife Hedwig were sent to Auschwitz where they died in 1944.&nbsp; Their sons Paul and Max escaped and eventually made their way to Israel and the USA respectively.&nbsp; Max Schlessinger, now with his Americanized name of Mark Salton, took up a New York banking career but also continued his family&#039;s legacy of coin sales.&nbsp; Taking advantage of depressed coin prices in the immediate post-war years he gathered an impressive array of material, which though originally serving as business stock, eventually evolved into the nucleus of his own personal collection.</p><p><br /></p><p>Max Schlessinger/Mark Salton died in 2005 and with the passing of his wife Lottie in 2020, their immense collection of ancient and European coins are being auctioned by both Stack&#039;s &amp; Bowers in the USA and Kuenker in Germany.&nbsp; I do not receive catalogs from Stack&#039;s and only receive Kuenker&#039;s that are related to ancients so I am unfortunately a bit late to the party&#039;s start, but the sale schedule is listed as follows:</p><p><br /></p><p>Part I - Ancient Greek, Polish, &amp; Russian coins (Stack&#039;s, Jan 16, 2022)</p><p>Part II - European gold coins (Kuenker, Mar 22, 2022)</p><p>Part III - English coins (Stack&#039;s, Aug 22, 2022)</p><p>Part IV - Roman &amp; Byzantine coins (Kuenker, Sept 2022)</p><p>Part V - Ancient Greek &amp; English coins (Stack&#039;s, Jan 2023)</p><p>Part VI - European silver coins (Kuenker, Jan 2023)</p><p><br /></p><p>I understand that Kolbe &amp; Fanning previously auctioned off the Schlessinger/Salton numismatic library in Sept 2021.</p><p><br /></p><p>Regarding Kuenker&#039;s current publication of the families&#039; extended history, I have only been able to leaf through it so far, but it is beautifully produced, well illustrated, and contains a wealth of fantastic personal information.&nbsp; The highlight I think is a full facsimile reproduction of Max/Mark&#039;s 32 page type-written recollection of memories covering the events of his turbulent lifetime.</p><p><br /></p><p>I am interested in Roman and Early Medieval coins, and so I eagerly await the Kuenker sale in September, but I think this is a fascinating reference book and would recommend it to anyone interested in numismatic history.&nbsp; I don&#039;t see it listed on their website but I&#039;m sure an email to Kuenker could produce a copy for those of you not on their [ATTACH=full]1438823[/ATTACH] mailing list.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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